System and method for managing information flow between members of an online social network

ABSTRACT

An online social network is provided in which members of the online social network control who may view their personal information and who may communicate with them. The members control who may view their personal information by setting a visibility preference. A member may not view another member&#39;s full personal profile if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the visibility preference of the other member. The members also control who may communicate with them by setting a contactability preference. A member may not communicate with another member if the measure of relatedness between the two is greater than the contactability preference of the other member.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a system and method formanaging information accessible online and, more specifically, to asystem and method for managing information flow between members of anonline social network based on their user preference settings and theirrelative positions within the online social network.

2. Description of the Related Art

Over the past several years, the amount of personal information thatindividuals share online has increased dramatically. Many websitesprovide an online community that provides content focusing on a commoninterest or theme (e.g., a “fan site” for a television program ormusical artist), and allows people to join the online community andshare personal information with other members of the online community.

Online social networking sites have also been rapidly gaining inpopularity. Typically, members of an online social network communicatewith one another and meet other members based on personal informationcaptured in the other member profiles.

Also, members of online social networks often request their existingfriends to join, creating a web of online relationships that mirroroffline ones. Operators of online social networking sites typicallyrequire that new members provide certain personal information to join,including contact information (e.g., physical and email addresses,telephone numbers, instant messaging nicknames, etc.) and identifyinginformation (e.g. a name, location, personal interests, age, etc.).

A positive consequence of this general trend is the greater ability forgroups of friends, families and other acquaintances to communicateonline with, and about, each other as members of a social network. Forexample, a group of friends may share personal information with eachother about common interests, individual personal attributes, events,schedules and activity plans and may also access each others' personalinformation. Another benefit of online social networks is that memberscan more easily find others who share common interests, goals,lifestyles, etc., without being limited to an online community dedicatedto a particular interest. Doing so allows members to expand their socialnetworks.

Many people, however, are reluctant to provide personal information toan online social network. The reasons for this reluctance are varied.Some have experienced undesired communications when submitting personalinformation online. For example, automated agents may be configured toscour the information available from an online social networking site toharvest email addresses and later send unsolicited email to theharvested addresses, or some members may be deluged by unwanted messagesfrom strangers. Parents are often concerned about allowing theirchildren to provide personal information to an online source out of thefear that it may be subsequently misused by strangers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a more appealing online environment forsharing personal information. In this environment, individuals who sharetheir personal information also specify settings that dictate who mayview their personal information and who may communicate with them.

Preferably, the environment is an online social network and theindividuals are members of the online social network. The memberscontrol which other members of the online social network may view theirpersonal information by setting a visibility preference at 1, 2, 3 orALL. A visibility preference of 1 means that only friends of the membermay view that member's personal information. A visibility preference of2 means that only friends of the member and friends of friends of themember may view that member's personal information. A visibilitypreference of 3 means that only friends of the member, friends offriends of the member, and friends of friends of friends of the membermay view that member's personal information. A visibility preference ofALL means that all members of the online social network may view thatmember's personal information.

The members also control which other members of the online socialnetwork may communicate with them by setting a contactability preferenceat 1, 2, 3 or ALL. A contactability preference of 1 means that onlyfriends of the member may communicate with that member. A contactabilitypreference of 2 means that only friends of the member and friends offriends of the member may communicate with that member. A contactabilitypreference of 3 means that only friends of the member, friends offriends of the member, and friends of friends of friends of the membermay communicate with that member. A contactability preference of ALLmeans that all members of the online social network may communicate withthat member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram that illustrates the relationships between membersin a social network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing an onlinesocial network, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for becoming a member ofan online social network and setting user preferences for differentinformation blocks, according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4A is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing a requestby one member to view the profile of another member in the system ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 4B is a flow diagram illustrating a method for determining whethera member can be contacted by another member in the system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4C is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing a searchrequest in the system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5A illustrates a sample interface used in inputting memberinformation including an interface for setting visibility andcontactability preferences; and

FIG. 5B illustrates a sample interface used in initiating a searchrequest and selecting from search results.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A social network is generally defined by the relationships among groupsof individuals, and may include relationships ranging from casualacquaintances to close familial bonds. A social network may berepresented using a graph structure. Each node of the graph correspondsto a member of the social network. Edges connecting two nodes representa relationship between two individuals. In addition, the degree ofseparation between any two nodes is defined as the minimum number ofhops required to traverse the graph from one node to the other. A degreeof separation between two members is a measure of relatedness betweenthe two members.

FIG. 1 is a graph representation of a social network centered on a givenindividual (ME). Other members of this social network include A-U whoseposition, relative to ME's, is referred to by the degree of separationbetween ME and each other member. Friends of ME, which includes A, B,and C, are separated from ME by one degree of separation (1 d/s). Afriend of a friend of ME is separated from ME by 2 d/s. As shown, D, E,F and G are each separated from ME by 2 d/s. A friend of a friend of afriend of ME is separated from ME by 3 d/s. FIG. 1 depicts all nodesseparated from ME by more than 3 degrees of separation as belonging tothe category ALL.

Degrees of separation in a social network are defined relative to anindividual. For example, in ME's social network, H and ME are separatedby 2 d/s, whereas in G's social network, H and G are separated by only 1d/s. Accordingly, each individual will have their own set of first,second and third degree relationships.

As those skilled in the art understand, an individual's social networkmay be extended to include nodes to an Nth degree of separation. As thenumber of degrees increases beyond three, however, the number of nodestypically grows at an explosive rate and quickly begins to mirror theALL set.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system for managing an onlinesocial network. As shown, FIG. 2 illustrates a computer system 100,including an application server 200 and distributed graph servers 300.The computer system 100 is connected to a network 400, e.g., theInternet, and accessible over the network by a plurality of computers,which are collectively designated as 500.

The application server 200 manages a member database 210, a relationshipdatabase 220 and a search database 230. The member database 210 containsprofile information for each of the members in the online social networkmanaged by the computer system 100. The profile information may include,among other things: a unique member identifier, name, age, gender,location, hometown, references to image files, listing of interests,attributes, etc. The profile information also includes VISIBILITY andCONTACTABILITY settings, the uses of which are described below inconnection with FIGS. 4A and 4B.

The relationship database 220 stores information relating to the firstdegree relationships between members. In addition, the contents of themember database 210 are indexed and optimized for search, and stored inthe search database 230. The member database 210, the relationshipdatabase 220, and the search database 230 are updated to reflect inputsof new member information and edits of existing member information thatare made through the computers 500.

The member database 210, the relationship database 220, and the searchdatabase 230 are depicted separately in the block diagram of FIG. 2 toillustrate that each performs a different function. The databases 210,220, 230 may each represent a different database system, module, orsoftware; or any two of the three or all three may be parts of the samedatabase system, module, or software.

The application server 200 also receives and processes informationexchange requests received from the remote computers 500. An informationexchange request may be a request to create a new member profile, (FIG.3), a request to view another member's profile (FIG. 4A), a request tosend messages to a member (FIG. 4B), or a search request (FIG. 4C). Theapplication server 200 relies on the distributed graph servers 300 toprocess certain CPU-intensive tasks required to process the informationexchange request.

The graph servers 300 receive a query from the application server 200,process the query and return the query results to the application server200. The graph servers 300 manage a representation of the social networkfor all the members in the member database. Detailed examples of graphservers and related components are described in detail in a commonlyowned, co-pending application, “System and Method for Managing an OnlineSocial Network,” Ser. No. 10/854,054, filed concurrently with thepresent application, the contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing a requestfrom a potential new member to join an online social network. In Step310, the application server 200 receives a request from the potentialnew member (NM1) to join the online social network. As an example, thismay occur when NM1 clicks on a hyperlink navigating to the online socialnetwork's website. Potential new members may also request to join theonline social network in response to a message from another existingmember.

In Step 320, the application server 200 responds to NM1's request byproviding NM1 with an interface to enter personal information andcorresponding user preferences. FIG. 5A illustrates a webpage thatallows NM1 to enter identifying information, including NM1's first andlast name, email address and username. The interface may also allow NM1to enter other personal information (e.g., affiliations, employers,locations, contact information for other potential new members etc.).

At Step 330, NM1 enters the information in the fields provided by theinterface. As illustrated, FIG. 5 the web page also includes a set ofradio buttons allowing NM1 to select VISIBILITY and CONTACTABILITYpreferences giving NM1 greater control over the personal informationthat NM1 provides to the online social networking site.

At Step 340, NM1 sets VISIBILITY and CONTACTABILITY preferences for theinformation entered in Step 330. As the two identifiers suggest, theVISIBILITY and CONTACTABILITY preferences refer, respectively, to theflow of NM1's personal information to others and to the flow ofinformation to NM1. As further described below in conjunction with FIGS.4A-4B, the VISIBILITY setting defines the elements of NM1's personalinformation (e.g., member profile) that others may view, based on theirdegree of separation from NM1. On the other hand, the CONTACTABILITYsetting limits who may communicate with NM1 (e.g., by e-mail, textmessaging, voicemail, instant messaging, chat, or other similar means),also based on their degree of separation from NM1.

For some embodiments, the personal information collected by the onlinesocial networking site may be subdivided into different groups, and NM1may selectively set the VISIBILITY and CONTACTABILITY preferences foreach group. Accordingly, after Step 350, NM1 may repeat Steps 320through 340 for additional information groups.

At Step 360, NM1 identifies relationships with other members (e.g., M2)of the online social network. For example, if NM1 is joining the onlinesocial network in response to a request from M2, NM1 may confirm that M2is, in fact, NM1's friend (i.e., NM1 is separated from the requestor by1 d/s). NM1 identifies any other relationships by specifying emailaddresses of NM1's friends.

In the preferred embodiment, before updating the databases 210, 220, 230to reflect a new 1 d/s relationship between NM1 and another member, theother member is required to confirm that NM1 is a friend. Doing soprevents NM1 from falsely claiming that a first degree relationshipexists with the other member when one does not. At Step 370, theapplication server 200 updates the databases 210, 220, 230 to reflectthe new relationships in the social network graph.

As those skilled in the art will recognize, once NM1 has joined thesocial networking site, NM1 may add additional first degreerelationships to NM1's social network at any time using the operationsdescribed above. Moreover, NM1 may be updating his or her social networkas new 1 d/s connections are made. For example, NM1 may uncover anunknown third degree relationship with M3 by browsing through memberprofiles on the online social network site. Depending on such M3'scontact preferences, NM1 may then contact and begin exchanging messageswith M3. Later, NM1 may update the social network to indicate that he orshe now has a first degree relationship with M3.

FIG. 4A is a flow diagram illustrating a method for processing a requestby one member (e.g., M1) to view the profile of another member (e.g.,M2) in the system of FIG. 2. As M1 interacts with the social network website, M1 may request to view the profiles of other members. For example,M1 may view the profiles a member with whom M1 has a 1 d/s relationship(e.g., M1's friend MA). MA's profile may include references to MA's 1d/s relationships (which are also among M1's 2 d/s relationships). M1may view successive member profiles, each time traversing an edgebetween two nodes in the social network. As M1 does so, M1 makes serialrequests of the application server to view member profiles.

In Step 610, the application server 200 receives a request by member M1to view the profile of member M2. If the d/s between M1 and M2 is lessthan or equal to M2's VISIBILITY preference or if M2's VISIBILITYpreference is set to ALL, then the full profile of member M2 will bedisplayed. M2's VISIBILITY setting may be set at 1, 2, 3 or ALL, andsettings 1, 2 and 3 correspond to degrees of separation, 1 d/s, 2 d/sand 3 d/s and ALL corresponds to all members, regardless of degree ofseparation.

In Step 620, the application server 200 retrieves M2's VISIBILITYsetting from the member database 210. If M2's VISIBILITY setting is ALL,the full profile of M2 will be transmitted to M1 for display at M1'scomputer (Steps 630 and 640). If not, the application server 200 queriesthe graph servers 300 to determine the d/s between member M1 and memberM2 (Steps 630 and 650). The graph servers 300 process the query andreturn the d/s between M1 and M2 to the application server 200.

If the d/s between M1 and M2 is greater than M2's VISIBILITY setting (orif M1 and M2 are not connected in the social network), only themini-profile of member M2 will transmitted to M1's computer for display.(Steps 660 and 670). In the preferred embodiment, every member of theonline social network has a mini-profile that includes a limited set ofthe personal information provided by each member as described aboveregarding FIG. 3. For example, the mini-profile may include only animage, first name and location. In some embodiments, the member mayspecify what's to be included in his or her mini-profile.

Otherwise, when the d/s between M1 and M2 is less than or equal to M2'sVISIBILITY preference, the application server retrieves M2's fullprofile and transmits it to M1 for display at M1's computer (Steps 660and 640). For some embodiments where the VISIBILITY and CONTACTABILITYpreferences are set for different elements within each member's profile,the application server 200 may return only some elements of M2's profilebut not others.

Alternatively, for some embodiments, an online social network may notprovide any information about M2 to M1 when the d/s between them isoutside of M2's VISIBILITY preference. In such an embodiment, theapplication server 200 respond to M1's request to view M2's memberprofile by displaying an error message, or by displaying a “no profilefound” message, and the application server 200 would also exclude M2'smember profile from any search results displayed to M1.

FIG. 4B is a flow diagram illustrating a method for managing informationflow to a member based on the member's CONTACTABILITY preference. Thefollowing example assumes that member M1 is viewing the full profile ofanother member M2. When the application server transmits M2's fullprofile to M1 according to the operations of FIG. 4A, the applicationserver 200 may also determine whether M1 may initiate communicationswith M2.

In Step 710, the application server 200 retrieves the CONTACTABILITYsetting of member M2. (e.g., CONTACTABILITY setting may be set as 1, 2,3 or ALL.) If M2's CONTACTABILITY setting is ALL, M2 will permit contactfrom anyone, and consequently, when M1 views M2's profile, a “SendMessage” hyperlink will appear which member M1 may click to sendmessages to member M1 (Steps 720 and 730).

If M2's CONTACTABILITY setting is less than ALL, the application server200 queries the graph servers 300 to determine the d/s between member M1and member M2 (Steps 720 and 740). The graph servers 300 process thequery and return the d/s between M1 and M2 to the application server200. If M2's CONTACTABILITY setting is less than the computed d/s (or ifM1 and M2 are not connected), than M2 is not permitting contact frommember M1 and the “Send Message” hyperlink will not be displayed whenmember M1 views member M2's profile (Steps 750 and 760). Conversely, ifM2's CONTACTABILITY setting is greater than or equal to the computedd/s, this then M1 may send messages to M2, and consequently, when memberM1 views M2's profile, a “Send Message” hyperlink, (or other mechanismallowing M1 to initiate contact with M2) may be displayed which memberM1 clicks to send messages to member M1 (Steps 750 and 730).

FIG. 4C is a flow diagram illustrating the method for processing asearch request in the system of FIG. 2. In Step 810, the applicationserver 200 receives a search query entered by member M1. The searchquery may be divided into two parts. The first part specifies searchlimitations, if any, for categories such as gender, age, interests andlocation. The second part specifies a d/s setting, which may be set at1, 2, 3 or ALL. For example, the search query may be: [gender (female),age (less than 30), d/s (at most 2)]. The first part of this searchquery is [gender (female), age (less than 30)] and the second part ofthis search query is [d/s (at most 2)]. In Step 820, the applicationserver 200 issues the first part of the search query to the searchdatabase 230 to obtain a set of member identifiers that includes themembers whose profiles meet the specified criteria. In Step 830, theapplication server 200 may query to the graph servers 300 to obtain aset of member identifiers of members that are within the d/s specifiedin the second part of the search query. The application server 200merges the results from the search database 230 and the graph servers300 (Step 840), and transmits the merged results to member M1 (Step850). After the application server 200 delivers the merged results tomember M1, the member may click on any of the results to view thatmember's profile according to the methods illustrated in FIGS. 4A and4B.

Additionally, for some embodiments, the merged results may be furtherlimited based on the VISIBILITY preference of each member included inthe merged set. Some embodiments may not display mini-profiles inresponse to a request to a view a member's profile if the degree ofseparation between that member and the requesting member exceeds theVISIBILITY preference of that member. In such an embodiment, the searchresults may be further limited based on each matching members'VISIBILITY preference. For example, if M1 makes queries the applicationserver 200 as described above with the following query: [gender(female), age (less than 30), d/s (at most 2)], the application 200server would further limit the merged results by removing the profile ofany member included in the merged results whose VISIBILITY preference isset to 1.

FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate two sample interfaces served on computers 500for inputting information. FIG. 5A represents interface elements thatmay be used to input new member information. A new member may enterinformation using text fields 510 ₁ and 510 ₂. In addition, radiobuttons 520 are provided to allow the new member to specifyCONTACTABILITY and VISIBILITY preferences by a degree of separation ofone, two, three or ALL.

FIG. 5B represents interface elements that a member may use to searchthe member profiles stored in the online social network according to themethod of FIG. 4C. Specifically, FIG. 5B illustrates an interfaceallowing a user to enter the search query described above, according toone embodiment of the present invention. The interface shows a memberthat has entered the search criteria of [gender (female), age (less than30), d/s (at most 2)]. Additionally, search results show a list ofmembers of the online social network that satisfy all of the searchcriteria. Member profile shows the details of profile associated withone member included in the search results.

In the embodiments of the invention described above, the ALL setting isused to signify all members within the online social network.Alternatively, the ALL setting could be used to signify anyone andeveryone, such that, if a member has a VISIBILITY preference set at ALL,anyone, even those who are not members of the online social network,could access the member's personal information.

Furthermore, the preference settings of 1, 2, 3, or ALL can begenerically viewed as permission levels, specified by a member of theonline network, for any type of activity involving the member andanother person. For example, a preference setting for SEARCHABILITY maybe included as an item in the member's profile. When this setting isused, a member will not appear in another member's search results unlessthe other member is within the degree of separation specified in theSEARCHABILITY setting.

While particular embodiments according to the invention have beenillustrated and described above, those skilled in the art understandthat the invention can take a variety of forms and embodiments withinthe scope of the appended claims.

1. In a computer system for an online social network, a method formanaging information exchanges between first and second members of theonline social network, wherein the first member of the online socialnetwork has a user profile that includes multiple sets of personalinformation, the method comprising: for each set of personalinformation, storing a degree of separation required for another memberto access the set of personal information, wherein the second member isnot allowed to access the set of personal information if the secondmember is separated from the first member by more than the stored degreeof separation; and storing a degree of separation required for anothermember to contact the first member through the computer system, whereinthe second member is not allowed to contact the first member through thecomputer system if the second member is separated from the first memberby more than the stored degree of separation.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: providing a mini-profile of the first member to athird member of the online social network who is not connected to thefirst member within the online social network, wherein the mini-profilecomprises a subset of the user profile.
 3. The method of claim 1,further comprising: if the second member is separated from the firstmember by less than or equal to the degree of separation required foranother member to contact the first member, providing an interface tothe second member for sending a message to the first member through thecomputer system.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the message is sentvia e-mail or text message.